Success Stories | Summer 2022 Business Matchmaking Grant
Baba’s House — with Scrubbed Accounting
Formerly known as the Business Matchmaking Grant, the now called SEED Partnership Grant encourages collaboration between BIPOC, Bay Area business owners and professional service providers. Business owners pair up with a B2B partner who aids them in solving a specific challenge, while SEED Network funds these services up to $4,000. Curious about how all the pieces fit together? Let’s take a look at Baba’s House, one of the summer 2022 grant winners.
Background
The push to start Baba’s House began in 2020 with the passing of co-founder Jenn Lui’s father. “It ignited something in me. I knew I wanted to build a legacy and start something up with my family,” said Jenn in an interview with SEED. After toying around with a few different ideas, the thought of an Asian snack shop stuck. The next deciding factor for Jenn and her co-founders was the location. After experiencing a friend’s event on 15th Street in Oakland, they deemed that particular block to be a special place to plant their business. In 2021, Baba's House, a combination Asian snack shop, community gallery, and event space was born, with the goal of sparking creativity and building a safe space for connection.
Baba’s House Co-Founders Jenn & Alan
In the beginning, the Baba’s House team had the motive, the concept, the vision, and the space to put it all together. But there was one piece missing: the metrics. For months, the team had hosted successful live music, karaoke, comedy, DJ events, fundraisers, private dinners, and more. But they didn’t have the numbers to back up that success. As a small team, the approach was to divide and conquer, with Jenn’s brother and Baba’s House managing partner, Sherman, trying his hand at the bookkeeping. However, the team required more support. They didn’t want to be part of the 82% of businesses that fail due to poor cash flow management, according to a U.S. Bank study by Jessie Hagan.
Mahjong Night at Baba’s House
In comes the Scrubbed Accounting team. Headquartered in San Francisco with operations in the Philippines, Scrubbed has over 700+ skilled professionals that make up a passionate community of problem solvers who help businesses across the globe thrive and succeed. They deliver financial services ranging from basic bookkeeping to complex planning and analysis for startups, small businesses, non-profits, and established companies. They would become Baba’s House’s partner in solving their accounting challenges.
Project Proposal
When first applying during this grant cycle, Jenn and her team didn’t know of many accounting services. They had a lot of creative friends who supported the business, but not a lot of data experts. They also had trouble finding an accounting service within SEED’s B2B business catalog. Luckily, a consultation with SEED Program Manager Desi Danganan gave them exactly what they needed. The partnership with Scrubbed came about as a referral from Desi. All applicants of the Partnership Grant are encouraged to communicate with SEED to help lay out the best possible project proposal for their application, thereby increasing their chances of getting the grant.
Ultimately, Baba’s House and Scrubbed put forth a 14-month plan, with the initial stages outlining Scrubbed’s work in catching up with all financial transactions to date, and the rest of the months designated towards the recurring accounting management.
Snippets from project plan
An Ongoing Partnership
One of the beautiful things about collaboration is the opportunity for flexibility. During the first months, the business partners discovered that there were a lot more transactions to tackle than they initially thought there would be. They’ve since mutually agreed to change their plan to accommodate for the time Scrubbed spent catching up.
Now, at a little bit past the halfway mark, Scrubbed has started on the regular, recurring maintenance phase. And Jenn has begun to communicate her team’s desire for more education so that they can then implement these accounting techniques in the future. A crash course is in the works to help the Baba’s House team to better understand accounting language.
Jenn cites efficient communication as one of the lessons she’s been learning so far about working with a B2B partner. She’s inquired about using templates to develop simplified systems and routines, and to adequately deliver information to Scrubbed’s overseas base.
When asked about the impact of the SEED partnership grant on Baba’s House, Jenn responded: “It’s helping immensely because it’s daunting to run a business without knowing your numbers. I feel like we’ve been operating blindly for a year now. [The grant] has been very valuable because it’s visibility and understanding of the numbers that we were lacking before.”
Profile by Anne Lizette Sta. Maria
This project is fully-funded by The SEED Program though our partner, the Wells Fargo Foundation.
All services are being provided to Baba’s House for free as a participant of our Business Matchmaking Grant. As a B2B service provider, Scrubbed Accounting is being fully compensated for their services.
Learn more about…
Baba’s House
Client & Recipient, Business Matchmaking Grant
Scrubbed Accounting
B2B Service Provider, Business Match Making Grant